‘Dancing with the Stars’: Do This 1 Pro Dancer and Celebrity Pair Have an Unfair Advantage?

'Dancing with the Stars': This one professional dancer and celebrity partner have known each other much longer than the other couples.

by Rachel Hunt

Published on September 28, 2020

2 min read

‘Dancing with the Stars’: Week 3 Disney-theme dance lineup

Monica Aldama and Val Chmerkovskiy will perform the waltz to “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. Carole Baskin will not shock anyone when she and Pasha Pashkov dance the samba to “Circle of Life” from The Lion King. Jesse Metcalfe and Sharna Burgess will do the jive to “King of New York” from Newsies when Dancing with the Stars week 3 begins.

‘Dancing with the Stars’ judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli | Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images

The Bachelorette alum Kaitlyn Bristowe will give her ankle a small break when she dances the rumba with Artem Chigvintsev to “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. Former football tight end Vernon Davis and Peta Murgatroyd will perform the quickstep to “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast.

Anne Heche and Keo Motsepe will also dance the quickstep to “Zero to Hero” from Hercules. Skai Jackson and Alan Bersten will attempt to make a comeback with the jive to “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog. Nelly and Daniella Karagach perform the foxtrot to “It’s Alright” from Soul, a movie headed to theaters this November.

#DisneyNight on #DWTS is TONIGHT!!! Voting opens at 8pm ET/5pm PT & ends after the last dance during the east coast airing. Vote for #TeamPrettyMessedUp by texting AJ to 21523 10x, & another 10x online at https://t.co/trkPR7neka. Thank you so much, see you tonight!!! @DancingABC pic.twitter.com/e9AabTeg3F
— AJ McLean (@aj_mclean) September 28, 2020

Justina Machado and Sasha Farber will dance the Charleston “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from Mary Poppins. Backstreet Boy AJ McLean and Cheryl Burke will perform the quickstep to “Prince Ali” from Aladdin. Jeannie Mai and Brandon Armstrong are sure to make Dancing with the Stars fans cry when they dance the Viennese waltz to “Married Life” from UP.

Nev Schulman and Jenna Johnson dance the Argentine tango “Angelica” from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Chrishell Stause and Gleb Savchenko perform the waltz to “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella. Plus, Johnny Weir and Britt Stewart dance the rumba to “Reflection” from Mulan.

Backstreet Boy AJ McLean and Cheryl Burke met over 20 years ago

“Chery is like my little sister and personal therapist,” McLean told Access Hollywood.

Their friendly banter during the interview makes it evident that the pair are not strangers.

‘Dancing with the Stars’ Cheryl Burke and AJ McLean | Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty Images

“She’s also helped me a lot as far as mediation and just trying to be centered and enjoy the moment,” McLean explains about his dancing pro partner.

McLean and Burke met in Germany over 20 years ago and have been friends ever since. Along with partnering together on Dancing with the Stars, they also launched a podcast — Pretty Messed Up.

The new iHeartRadio podcast features the stars discussing their DWTS journey, life, love, highs and lows, friends and frenemies, and mental health. The idea came from a Zoom call they had together earlier this summer.

Will how close these two make their dances even better. Do they have an unfair advantage because their performances have roots in a strong bond before the show? Only time will tell as the season goes on.